Toro Energy’s Wiluna Uranium Project Receives Investor Interest

Toro Energy Limited, whose highly-controversial Wiluna uranium mine project in Western Australia has yet to receive final environmental approval from the Federal Government, has pricked the interest of a number of investors, including a major U.S. nuclear energy group.

A report by Proactive Investors said that at least three potential financiers have visited the Wiluna project site as well as Toro's project office in Perth for technical review and confirmation. Among those that visited was a major U.S. nuclear energy group, which Toro Energy did not identify.

Toro Energy's project, with a total estimated capital cost placed at around A$280 million, is composed of two uranium deposits near Wiluna. With a lifespan of 14 years, it is expected to process 1.3 million tonnes of ore annually and produce around 820 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate.

Toro Energy had admitted it would need additional funding to push through the project. As of the end of the last quarter, the company held $7.5 million in cash.

Earlier this month, Toro Energy received from the environmental green light from the Western Australia state government. Subject to a number of strict conditions, the approval followed consultative meetings with other decision-making authorities including the Department of Environment and Conservation, WA's resources minister Norman Moore and the state's Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Energy Peter Collier.

Adelaide-based Toro Energy has moved to the first half of 2013, from an earlier target date of end 2012, its final board decision whether to proceed developing the project.

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